Mobile home arrangement

ABSTRACT

The mobile home arrangement enables the configuration of two or more mobile home sites to give the appearance of a single conventional dwelling by positioning the mobile homes on a pad or support and providing vertical walls located at each end of the mobile homes and in between the two homes, with said walls being constructed in such a manner as to give the combined homes the attractive appearance of a permanent conventional dwelling. The mobile homes may be easily moved on or off of said support pad by a simple removal and reinstallation of the walls or the walls may be movable in whole or in part to allow for the movement of the mobile homes.

United States Patent Panitz [451 July25, 1972 [54] MOBILE HOME ARRANGEMENT 21 Appl. No.: 66,201

[52} US. Cl ..52/79, 52/169, 52/311 [51 1 Int. Cl ..E04h 3/00 [58} Field of Search ..52/236, 169, 234, 79, 143, 52/311 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,995,573 3/1935 Matthews ..52/143 2,499,498 3/1950 Hammond.. ....52/79 D216,954 3/1970 Jenn ....52/79 3,007,212 11/1961 Gazin... ..52/126 3,016,583 l/1962 Grunt ..52/143 3,166,870 l/1965 La Porte ..52/143 3,452,492 7/1969 Brockway ..52/143 3,525,186 8/1970 Lombardo. 3,553,911 l/1971 Morrow ..52/143 Primary Examiner-John E. Murtagh Attorney-Sughrue, Rothwell, Mion, Zinn & Macpeak [57] ABSTRACT The mobile home arrangement enables the configuration of two or more mobile home sites to give the appearance of a single conventional dwelling by positioning the mobile homes on a pad or support and providing vertical walls located at each end of the mobile homes and in between the two homes, with said walls being constructed in such :a manner as to give the combined homes the attractive appearance of a permanent conventional dwelling. The mobile homes may be easily moved on or off of said support pad by a simple removal and reinstallation of the walls or the walls may be movable in whole or in part to allow for the movement of the mobile homes.

1 Claim, 10 Drawing Figures Patented July 25, 1972 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR LEON J. PANITZ Patented July 25, 1972 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 MOBILE HOME ARRANGEMENT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention This invention relates to mobile home sites and structures used therewith to give the mobile homes the appearance of permanent conventional dwellings, while enabling mobile homes to be conveniently placed in or removed from the mobile home site.

2. Description of the Prior Art In the past, much difficulty has been encountered in trying to disguise the appearance of a mobile home so that a mobile home will have more of an appearance of a permanent conventional dwelling. Various means have been used in an attempt to improve the appearance of mobile homes. Such attempts have included the use of trailer skirts around the lower edge of the mobile home, which is positioned above the ground, in order to conceal the undercarriage of the mobile home.

One of the most recent methods for improving the appearance of mobile homes in an attempt to make them appear to be more permanent conventional types of installations has been to landscape the area around the mobile home by utilizing either real or artificial shrubs, bushes, trees, and the like.

Attempts to make mobile homes partof a permanent structure have proven largely unsuccessful, due to the manner in which mobile homes are constructed, as opposed to the construction of permanent structures. In addition, with the use of mobile homes, there remains the possibility that the mobile home will be moved from its present location in the future, thereby necessitating the destruction or partial dismantling of the permanent portion of the structure to which the mobile home has been adaptcd.The resulting damage, destruction or modification of the permanent portion of such an installation results in high costs and a rather unsatisfactory attempt at solving the problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The mobile home site of the subject invention projects the image of a permanent conventional dwelling by utilizing wall structures having the appearance of a wall of a permanent dwelling and being positioned adjacent the ends of one or more mobile homes located at the mobile home site. The relationship of the mobile homes and the wall structures and the positioning thereof is such that an image of a permanent conventional dwelling structure will be given thereby, .thus alleviating the problems presented by the use of expensive concealing devices or costly structures which must be detached from the mobile home or destroyed whenthe mobile home is to be moved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is one embodiment of the subject invention showing the location of the mobile homes and the wall structures relative to each other for projecting an image of a permanent conventional dwelling.

FIG. 2 is an end view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 showing the wall structure.

FIG. 3 is aside corner view of the wall structure of FIG. 1 showing one type of support means used therewith.

FIG. 4 is an end view of FIG. I with an end wall removed to show an example of the interior space and partition means which may be placed in the area between the trailers.

FIG. 5 is a top view of FIG. 1 showing the area and partition between the trailers.

FIG. 6 is another embodiment of the structure of the subject invention showing the mobile homes offset relative to each other and additional features of the end walls.

FIG. 7 shows a modification of the end walls of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 shows a further modification of the end walls of FIG. 1.

FIG. 9 shows a further embodiment of the end walls according to the subject invention.

FIG. 10 shows still another embodiment of a mobile home site and structure used therewith according to the subject invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The structure of the subject invention, as well as the individual elements which make up the structure of the present invention will now be described in detail. As shown in FIG. I, a pairof mobile homes, 20 and 22, commonly referred to as house trailers," are placed on a pad (not shown) constructed of concrete or similar hard, long wearing material, parallel to and in close proximity with each other. The trailers are generally positioned so that an open area is formed between the sides of the trailers facing each other in order to form a type of courtyard between the trailers. A pair of wall structures 24 and 26 are positioned at the ends of the trailers in a parallel, spaced-apart relationship with each other. The walls 24 and 26 may be formed as part of the pad supporting the trailers or may be constructed separately.

The outside surface of the wall structures 24 and 26, or that portion thereof which is observed from a distance, is constructed in such a manner as to present the appearance of a conventional dwelling. This outer surface may be finished with a brick type of facing or may be constructed in such a manner as to give the appearance of a shingle or wooden construction.

.In order to further enhance the appearance of the wall structures 24 and 26, a partial roof section, shown at 30 and 32, may be attached to the walls 24 and 26 to further aid in the appearanceof a conventional structure. The walls 24 and 26 and roof portions 30 and 32 are constructed in such a manner that the roof sectionswill not interfere with the mobile homes 20 and 22 and will be positioned above the tops of the mobile homes. The end wall structures 24 and 26 may also include a window 40, such as is used in conventional permanent dwellings.

'The mobile homes 20 and 22 may be furnished with conventional trailer skirts 36 as well as steps 28 for facilitating entrance and exit from the mobile homes.

The mobile home site may further include a vertical fence orpartition 42, located in such a manner as to divide the area between the two mobile homes 20 and 22 into two separate areas, as indicated at in FIG. 5. If desired, storage means such as buildings or enclosures 44 maybe placed adjacent the partition 42 on both sides thereof to furnish storage for the occupants of each of the mobile homes.

The mobile home site may include the slab or pad (not shown) on which the mobile homes 20 and 22 are placed, as well as the vertical wall structures 24' and 26. If it is desired that the vertical wall structures 24 and 26 are to be permanently installed, afoundation 38, as shown in FIG. 2, may be constructed at themobile home site and the vertical wall structures 24 and26 constructed and supported thereon.

FIG. 3 shows, an alternative method of supporting the vertical wall and roof structure 26 and 30 by utilizing vertical support posts or. brackets 34 positioned at the edge of the roof 30 at predetermined locations along the length thereof. If desired, bracket means (not shown) may be supplied with the mobile home site in order that the vertical wall and roof portions may be supported by the mobile homes themselves by placing thebrackets between the tops of the mobile homes and the roof portions of the vertical wall structures.

The vertical wall structures 24 and 26 may be designed for permanent installation as a part of an overall mobile home site or may beconstructed in such a manner as to be portable so that they maybe used at any location where a mobile home is to be 'pIacednIf it is desired to construct the vertical wall sections as part of a permanent mobile home site, the vertical wall structures 26 may be constructed in such a manner that sections thereof, shown at50 in FIG. 8, may be movable to facilate the placing or removal of mobile homes and 22 at the mobile home site. As shown in FIG. 8, a vertical support member 36 is used to furnish sufficient support for the vertical wall 26 and the movable section 50, to enable the movable section to be swung outwardly so that a mobile home may be placed on or removed from the supporting pad (not shown).

The end wall structures 24 and 26 may also be constructed in such a manner as to be movable to either facilitate their use at a permanently located mobile home site or for use at other locations where it is desired to use the mobile home. Such mobility of the end wall structure 26 may be attained by supporting the end wall 26 by vertical support member 56 having rollers or casters 48 attached to the bottom thereof for engagement with the ground or trailer support pad, so that the end wall sections 24 and 26 may be easily moved about or placed in any desired location.

The casters or rollers 58 may be mounted in the vertical support members 56 so that they may be easily lowered for movement of the wall 26 and raised up so that they are conceaIed, once the wall 26 is placed in position. Such a mechanism for raising and lowering the casters or rollers 58 is well known and widely used.

It is possible to obtain many varied structures with the subject invention. As shown in FIG. 6, the mobile home site or the vertical wall structures may be constructed in such a manner that the mobile homes 20 and 22 are placed parallel to each other in the same manner as described with reference to FIG. 1. However, the ends of the trailers are not aligned with each other, but rather, are offset somewhat. A portion of the roof sections 30 and 31 are extended, as shown at 31 to cover the area created by the offset of the ends of the trailers 20 and 22. The extension of the roof sections 30 and 32 are supported by support means, such as posts 72 located at the comers of the extension 31. The open area indicated at 48 below the roof extension 31 may be used as a carport, patio, or for any desired purpose. If desired, a fireplace or grille structure shown at 46, may be placed in the end wall structure 26 for ornamental or functional purposes.

Various alternative structures of the window opening 40 shown in FIG. I may be used, depending upon the size and style of mobile home to be used. If trailers of different lengths are to be used together, walls having a continuous structure, such as those shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 6 would be most desirable. If the mobile home has a window in one end thereof, the window opening 40 may be positioned in the wall structure 26 in such a manner as to be aligned with the window opening in the mobile home when the mobile home is placed on the supporting pad. This feature is shown in FIG. 6. An alternative structure is to construct an opening in the wall structure 26 having an outline corresponding to the vertical sectional outline of the end of a mobile home. Such an opening, indicated at 54in FIG. 7, would expose the entire end of a mobile home, which would facilitate the use of two mobile homes having different lengths.

A further embodiment of the subject invention is shown in FIG. 10, in which four mobile homes are placed in a rectangular arrangement about a center courtyard 68. Corner rectangular structures 60 are placed at each corner of a mobile home arrangement adjacent the ends of two adjacent mobile homes. Each of these corner rectangular structures 60 may be constructed in such a manner as to have at least one open side 62 and one solid exposed wall 64. The corner rectangular structures 60 may further include a roof 66 so that each corner structure may be used for a carport, patio, etc., for an adjacent mobile home.

A further alternative to each of the embodiments shown in the FIGS. and described above is to extend the roof portions 30 and 32 completely over each mobile home from one end wall structure to the other, in order to project a better image of a permanent dwelling when the mobile home site or the walls used in conjunction with mobile homes is viewed from a position above the level on which the mobile homes are located. In addition, side walls extending from each of the end wall structures may also be used to completely enclose the mobile'homes. Such a completed enclosure would be quite satisfactory if the end walls 24 and 26 were constructed with movable sections, as shown at 50 in FIG. 8 to facilitate the placing of mobile homes in or removal of mobile homes from the structure. Such an enclosed structure would be relatively inexpensive to construct since the walls would not be required to support any type of load, nor would any type of insulation for waterproofing be required, as this is already furnished by the mobile home structure itself.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination, a pair of mobile homes and a pair of selfsupporting spaced-apart end walls positioned parallel with one another, said mobile homes being positioned parallel with one another in a spaced-apart relationship with said spaced-apart walls being positioned at the ends of said mobile homes in such a manner as to screen the spaced-apart ends of said mobile homes and present an image of a conventional dwelling and partition means positioned between said walls and parallel thereto between said mobile homes along the length thereof for dividing the area between said mobile homes into two separated areas. 

1. In combination, a pair of mobile homes and a pair of selfsupporting spaced-apart end walls positioned parallel with one another, said mobile homes being positioned parallel with one another in a spaced-apart relationship with said spaced-apart walls being positioned at the ends of said mobile homes in such a manner as to screen the spaced-apart ends of said mobile homes and present an image of a conventional dwelling and partition means positioned between said walls and parallel thereto between said mobile homes along the length thereof for dividing the area between said mobile homes into two separated areas. 